Slowly but surely, Film Fest Gent's 46th edition is coming to an end. Its musical interlude, that places special emphasis on the soundscapes of films and their creators, is only about to really start. On Thursday, the 17th of October, recent Emmy winner and two-time Oscar nominee Marco Beltrami -known for his 'Scream' soundtrack- will attend a film music seminar. Additionally, Icelandic musician-composer Hildur Guðnadóttir will make an appearance in Ghent. This recent Emmy winner will be the center of attention at the Composer Talk on Thursday.
The Film Music Seminar, taking place on Thursday, the 17th of October, will host Marco Beltrami. From 9.30 am onwards, Dr. Martine Huvenne will moderate a talk with this prominent horror film composer. The seminar centres around Creative Partnerships, an invaluable aspect of Beltrami's oeuvre and creative process. The history of his career is an impressive summation of large projects and constant innovation and boundary-pushing. Alongside of Beltrami, Belgian director Michaël R. Roskam -who employed Beltrami to compose music for his American debut- will join the panel.
The afternoon offers another event for the soundtrack enthusiast: the Composer Talk with Hildur Guðnadóttir. Guðnadóttir is one of the most promising talents to arrive on the film music scene in recent years. She was awarded an Emmy for her soundtrack for HBO's 'Chernobyl' and added sound to Todd Phillips''Joker', starring Joaquin Phoenix, that won the Golden Lion at the latest Venice Film Festival. The Icelandic composer is an important pioneer in the fields of experimental pop and contemporary music. She has contributed music to film as well as to dance and theatre, and has shown her potential in collaborative efforts with film composers Jóhann Jóhannsson, Hauschka en Ryuichi Sakamoto. Robert Kraft will host the Composer Talk, former head of Fox Music.
World Soundtrack Awards 2019
On Friday, the 18th of October, Ghent will once again transform itself into a safe haven for the Soundtrack afficionada and fan. At the 19th World Soundtrack Awards, Krzysztof Penderecki and Frédéric Devreese's careers will be honoured with the Lifetime Achievement Award. Meanwhile, Brooklyn-based composer Tamar-kali will return to Ghent after her 'Discovery of the Year' win at the 18th World Soundtrack Awards. And this is just the tip of the iceberg: John Powell ('How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World'), Daniel Pemberton ('Yesterday', 'Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse', 'Scarborough', 'Venom'), among others will make their way to our festival for the World Soundtrack Awards.
The World Soundtrack Academy chose to highlight horror, with Marco Beltrami as guest of honour. He will be welcomed as one of his generation's most ingenious composers, known for his collaborations with some of the biggest names in cinematic history, like Kathryn Bigelow, James Mangold, Guillermo Del Toro, Wes Craven, Bertrand Tavernier, Tommy Lee Jones and Jean-François Richet. Recently, the American composer was still hard at work attaching sound to the box-office hit 'A Quiet Place', nominated for the Golden Globe for Best Score. Additionally, he composed the soundtrack for Netflix''Velvet Buzzsaw' and National Geographic's Oscar-winning documentary 'Free Solo'.
The day before the World Soundtrack Awards, Film Fest Gent already offers you a taste of Beltrami's oeuvre with the themed concert 'Hollywood Nightmares: Scary Symphonic Scores.'Dirk Brossé will conduct Brussels Philharmonic as they perform a musical journey through the genre of horror, highlighting horror-classics of every generation- from 'Bride of Frankenstein' and 'Psycho', to 'The Twilight Saga: New Moon' and 'A Quiet Place'- with accompanying film excerpts projected on the big screen.
If you cannot make it to the concert, you can still buy the Marco Beltrami album on Film Fest Gent's webshop from Friday, the 18th onwards.
Practical Information
17/10 - 9u30: Film Music Seminar with Marco Beltrami
17/10 - 14u30: Composer Talk with Hildur Guðnadóttir
17/10 - 19u30: Themed concert 'Hollywood Nightmares: Scary Symphonic Scores'
18/10 - 20u00: 19th World Soundtrack Awards
The 46th Film Fest Gent takes place from the 8th until the 18th of October in Kinepolis Gent, Studio Skoop, Sphinx, Vooruit, KASKcinema and Capitole. For more information go to www.filmfestival.be